Deities and Faith
Do burned trees or demolished houses necessarily remove earlier unseen influences?
English translation draft · Based on the Chinese article. This is not a word-for-word translation approved by Master Shengyuan.
Not necessarily. Examine what the influence connects with. Some relate to objects, others remain with land. A tree or building's existence alone cannot provide one answer for all cases.
In the rite for hanging deaths, religious understanding links ropes, poles, or branches with the person's energy, so related objects are handled. Discussing forest trees, I said that in this kind of attachment, loss of the tree might theoretically mean the attached soul presence no longer remains.
If a forest death did not attach to that tree, burning leaves the land and possible residual influence. Demolition and rebuilding may weaken earlier energy, but the building's disappearance alone does not prove every condition resolved.
Understand original events and relevant objects or locations first. This explains differing religious situations, not a rule that removing an object solves every problem.